Skilled Independent Visa - Points Tested Stream

The Points-tested stream of the Skilled – Independent visa allows highly skilled workers who are not sponsored by an employer, State or Territory of Australia, or family member to live and work permanently in Australia. If you wish to apply for this visa under the Points-tested stream, you must first obtain a positive skills assessment for your nominated occupation, and then lodge an Expression of Interest. If this is successful, you will be invited to lodge a visa application.

Requirements

At the time that you are invited to apply for this visa, you must:

be under 45 years of age

nominate an occupation that is included on the Medium and Long-term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL)

have your skills assessed by the appropriate Australian skills assessing authority as suitable for your nominated occupation

have competent English

score at least 65 on the relevant points test (which takes into account your age, English competency, qualifications and work experience, amongst other factors).

Application Process
Anyone who wishes to apply for this visa MUST first be invited to lodge an application by the Department of Home Affairs.

WHAT MIGRATION PLUS CAN DO FOR YOU

Stage 1: Initial Assessment of Eligibility

The first step that we will take is to conduct an initial assessment of your eligibility for this visa. This involves reviewing your qualifications, work experience, English language and other circumstances, to establish whether or not you are likely to meet the relevant requirements.

Note

Our initial assessment of your eligibility does not guarantee that you will (or will not) in fact obtain a positive skills assessment, or be issued an invitation to apply for this visa. In particular, whether or not the Department of Home Affairs issues you with an invitation will depend upon how your points test score compares to the scores of other potential applicants, and whether or not the Department of Home Affairs deems your nominated occupation to be required in Australia.

Stage 2: Skills Assessment Application

Should our initial assessment indicate that you are eligible for a positive skills assessment and EOI, we will prepare your skills assessment application. We will provide you with a full list of the information and documents required to support your application. When you have provided the necessary details and documents, along with the required assessment fee, we will lodge your application with the applicable skills assessing authority.

Stage 3: Expression of Interest

Once you have received a positive skills assessment from the skills assessing authority, we will prepare and lodge your EOI. Although you do not need to provide supporting documents at this stage, you MUST be able to provide evidence that the information supplied in the EOI is correct at the time that you are invited to apply for the visa.

You will subsequently receive a result and points score from the Department of Home Affairs, which is used to rank you against other applicants who have lodged EOIs for this visa. Ranking is based partially on whether or not your occupation is a skill that Australia requires at the time your EOI is assessed. If your EOI is successful, you will be invited to lodge a visa application.

Stage 4: Visa Application

Once the Department of Home Affairs has invited you to apply for this visa, we will prepare and lodge your visa application within the specified time frame, together with all of the documents that support the information that you provided in your EOI. This includes your skills assessment, English language test results, qualifications, work references and all other required documents.

Should your visa application be approved, you will be granted a permanent visa. You may be either in Australia or overseas when your visa is granted.